MISSY RAINES BIO

For some musicians, ringing new changes on familiar sounds is enough. For bassist Missy Raines, though, it’s a different story. Though she’s achieved acclaim in the world of bluegrass, her horizons have always been broader, and in Missy Raines & the New Hip—more than a decade in the making—she’s at last created a group in which she can unleash the full range of her creativity. 

Admired by colleagues and fans alike, Missy Raines has been blazing trails and making award-winning music on the upright bass since she was in her teens. Recording with musicians ranging from bluegrass legends like The Masters (a quartet of International Bluegrass Music Association Hall of Honor members) to young phenom Josh Williams, she has been named the IBMA’s Bass Player of the Year a record-setting six times—making her the second woman to have won an instrumentalist award and the only one to have repeated the achievement.

Born in Cumberland, MD in 1962 and raised in Short Gap, WV, Missy was playing semi-professionally and touring regionally before she finished high school. Upon graduation, she joined Cloud Valley, a progressive bluegrass band, honing her skills by playing everything from Bach to Bill Monroe. An eight year stint with bluegrass pioneer Eddie Adcock, during which she also toured and recorded with Grammy nominees The Masters (Adcock, Kenny Baker, Josh Graves and Jesse McReynolds) and appeared on Mac Wiseman’s Grammy-nominated “Grassroots to Bluegrass”, and then a year-long tour of duty with Americana favorites The Brother Boys took Raines into the mid-90s.

In 1995, she joined the band of singer/songwriter and Rounder recording artist Claire Lynch, whose blend of bluegrass and Americana earned her regular IBMA and Grammy award nominations and, in 1997, the former’s Female Vocalist of the Year title. The following year, Missy won her first Bass Player of the Year award, repeating the honor in 1999 and releasing her first solo album, “My Place In The Sun”, nominated for the IBMA’s Instrumental Album of the Year award and named by the Chicago Tribune as one of the top 5 bluegrass albums of the year.

When Lynch took a hiatus from touring in 2000, after recording two albums in which Raines participated (including the Grammy-nominated “Silver And Gold”), Missy formed a groundbreaking duo with her colleague in the band, guitarist Jim Hurst. Since then, she’s alternated touring and recording “Two” and “Synergy” (both on Pinecastle Records) with Hurst with guest appearances on recordings like 2001’s IBMA Recorded Event of the Year “Follow Me To The Fold” and banjo player Alison Brown’s “Fair Weather”, special appearances with respected artists such as Laurie Lewis, Dudley Connell & Don Rigsby and the Nashville Bluegrass Band, teaching at music camps and workshops around the country and representing her fellow artists on the IBMA’s Board of Directors—and 2007 has proven to be even busier, as she rejoins Claire Lynch in a new round of tour dates and recording. 

“I’m not a ‘hot’ player, I’m a groove player,” Missy says, and whether it’s the lithe, boundary-stretching grooves she lays down with Hurst in their exploration of jazz, folk, country and bluegrass flavors or the solid bluegrass drive with which she anchored Josh Williams’ acclaimed 2004 solo release, Lonesome Highway, Missy Raines’ unerring instinct for the right groove has made her one of the most sought-after bass players—make that musicians—of the new century. 
2007 also brings the first touring appearances of Missy Raines & the New Hip, an exciting new ensemble that promises to find a welcome reception among adventurous music fans of every stripe. “I had the idea as early as 1988 or so,” she confesses, “but through the years it was always in the background—until now. With its distinctive instrumentation (bass, guitar, dobro, mandolin, percussion and vocals), dynamic personnel and original songs and instrumentals, the New Hip at long last fulfills Missy’s desire to create a unique kind of music with, as she puts it,“ meaningful lyrics, strong vocals, as much rhythmic variety as melodic—and groove!”